Challenges to make super conference work

Most Lehigh Valley Conference schools are weighing options with regard to a proposed super conference by their Mountain Valley Conference brethren.

TOM HOUSENICK

Most Lehigh Valley Conference schools are weighing options with regard to a proposed super conference by their Mountain Valley Conference brethren.

If the LVC folks are looking for advice, they need only to turn to the 25 schools in District 4.

District 4 schools from the Central Susquehanna Conference, Schuylkill Valley League, Tri-Valley League, Susquehanna Valley League, the Mid-Penn and old West Branch League formed a 25-school super conference in 2008 called the Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference.

The PHAC, which encompasses more than half of District 4's 46 schools, competes in 17 sports and has divisional set-up based on school size, not geography.

Williamsport, the only District 4 Class 4A school, is not a full-time member. The Millionaires, with 591 girls and 685 boys, do participate in some sports, such as girls and boys soccer.

The Northern Tier League, including Athens, Sayre and Wyalusing, did not join. Others such as Line Mountain and East Juniata also passed.

But those who did come on board know they have a level playing field based strictly on enrollment figures.

While geography is not a factor, divisional set-up has worked out well regarding travel. For example, there are three divisions totaling 19 teams for football.

The division of the biggest schools play six divisional games and four crossovers for a 10-game schedule. The biggest trek is a 58-mile journey from Shamokin in the southern end of the district to Loyalsock, which is just south of Williamsport.

Those two teams don't meet each other every year in football, but are in the same division and play one another every soccer season.

Under the MVC's super conference proposal, the longest trips would be from Emmaus to Pocono Mountain West (61 miles) and to East Stroudsburg North (72 miles). Weather conditions during the winter sports season would bring student safety concerns into the mix.

Distance also brings additional costs into shrinking budgets.

But if the District 11 super conference factored in geography, Emmaus (1,022 boys) and Pocono Mountain West (838) would not be regular playing partners. East Stroudsburg North (520) wouldn't be aligned with Emmaus based on enrollment or geography.

Of the 25 PHAC member schools, Selinsgrove and Shikellamy (371 boys) are the largest. Saint John Neumann Regional Academy (34 boys, 26 girls) is the smallest.

In 2010, the PHAC had some realignment to accommodate enrollment changes and travel.

Rivalries in some sports have suffered in the PHAC. Selinsgrove and Shikellamy as well as Bloomsburg and Southern Columbia meet in all sports, but that is because they are similarly sized schools.

Danville and Southern Columbia have dropped their annual football game since they are in different divisions.

Legendary Coal Region football programs Mount Carmel and Shamokin, despite being in different divisions, still play each other every season.

Lehigh Valley Conference teams certainly have concerns to address.

For one, the MVC invitations were not extended to all of the LVC schools. Bethlehem Catholic and Central Catholic were excluded based on enrollment, according to Stroudsburg principal Jeff Sodl.

The PHAC does have one private/parochial school in the league (Saint John Neumann).

Should the LVC/MVC super conference come to fruition, the Allen-Dieruff football competition situation returns.

Both schools joined the MVC for football only starting in 2012 because they weren't able to compete in recent years in the LVC.

Whether the new super conference bases its divisional setup on geography or enrollment, Allen and Dieruff would be right back where they were two years ago — playing Parkland, Easton, Whitehall and others.

The PHAC doesn't have any such situation in football. Non-member Lourdes Regional, a Class A private school, had trouble competing against other area Class A and 2A programs during the previous decade. It became more competitive after it joined the All-American Conference, which Pius X formerly belonged.

The PHAC was borne out of concerns because of schools in different leagues depending on the sport and existing enrollment and geographical imbalance.

The LVC may have issues, but it doesn't involve any of those scenarios.

Super conferences can work. District 4's PHAC is the latest example. District 3 has the Mid-Penn Conference (31 schools) and all of District 7 (138 schools) comprise the WPIAL.